A South Dakota judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by dozens of neighbors in a Rapid City-area subdivision whose homes were built over an old, underground mine linked to sinkholes in the neighborhood.
Circuit Court Judge Eric J. Strawn, in a ruling posted online Wednesday, granted the state’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed all claims, ruling that the state has sovereign immunity, a kind of legal protection against lawsuits .
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Kathy Barrow, said her Hideaway Hills clients will appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs argue that the state’s mining operations and the way it ultimately closed the mine created conditions ripe for sinkhole development. They also blame the state for not making the problematic circumstances public.
The plaintiffs want the Supreme Court to clarify the “blurred lines” of legal theory behind their claims, Barrow said.
An attorney for the state referred The Associated Press to Ian Fury, spokesman for Gov. Kristi Noem, who did not respond to The AP’s email seeking comment.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2020. That same year, a giant sinkhole opened nearby, later revealing the extent of the underlying mine. About 150 neighbors in 94 homes are asking for $45 million. Since then, more holes and subsidence have occurred, endangering homes, roads and utilities, homeowners said.
The state’s former cement plant mined gypsum in the area decades ago. Attorneys for the state have argued that the cement plant was not mining underground and that the collapse would have occurred regardless of the plant’s mining operations.
